writing is an art of giving

My Goodwill Speech

In this special occasion I want to say thank you to all sponsors who has helped us, the Goodwillers, so that we can continue our study and being a better and competitive student. Then I thank to Ibu Mien as the Chairperson of Yayasan Goodwill International and our beloved Mbak Rosa and Pak Broto who never feel tired to help us in every goodwill session.

So I want to use this opportunity to share two stories to you. The first one is how did The Goodwill program affected me and shaped me a to be better student. The second one is my experience in performing Saman Dance in Ohio University last year.

Since July 2010, I received a scholarship from Goodwill. I was so happy because I can help my parents to afford my study. Then I became happier after I attended a lot of training provided by Goodwill. Those training helped me to find my own voice and pushed me to do more than I’ve never realized before. Goodwill training has enhanced my skills in writing and speaking in English. But not only that, a leadership training that was held in October last year has motivated me to do more than before.

Now, I’ve finished my final research and graduated. But the training that I’ve said before convinced me to do more than just finishing my final research. What I’ve done? My research was aimed to produce a biodegradable styrofoam from corn and cassava starch. I wrote my proposal research in English than I submitted my proposal to Japan. Alhamdulillah, Thanks to God. My proposal was one among 10 best proposal that received a funding from Tokyotech Indonesia Commitment Award. I was also surprised that I got another achievement. My proposal was also selected as the best 50 proposal in Student Innovation Award 2011 held in Japan. I know that maybe I can never achieved all of them without Goodwill training. So once again, I want to say thank you the sponsors and Goodwill staff.
Let me continue to my second story. Last year I received a scholarship form US Department of State to study in Ohio University for two months. The program was named IELSP (Indonesia English Language Study Program). Two weeks before we went back to Indonesia, there was an International Street Fair in Ohio University. In that fair, every international student had an opportunity to show their talents and art performance. Indonesian Student Union helped us to performed Saman Dance in the fair. Four weeks before the fair, we had already started the preparation. We trained the dance and the music twice a week after class and we also prepared the costumes. During we were preparing the dance, there were two young women and one man from Taiwan, Argentina and USA who were interested to join us. We were so happy and proud because they really appreciate our own culture and want to learn how to perform the Saman Dance.

Finally the day came. Every country had their own art performance such as belly dance, samba dance, percussion music performance, and many more. In addition, each country also had a stand to sell their handy craft or traditional food. Before noon, our turn was come. We went to the stage and start performing. Beyond our expectation, there were a lot of people stopped their activity and came to the front of the stage to watched our performance. Some of them was videotaping us while the other never stop clapping. When our performance was finished the crowd gave us a very big applause. On the following day, our picture became the header of the official website of Ohio University and the news in the newspaper talking about our performance. Start from that experience, I realized that it is not enough for us to just being proud of our national art and culture and doing nothing. We should do more by learning and practicing at least one of them. Because it is the most effective way to preserve our culture. I heard that there are some of the Goodwillers who will perform a music performance today. So let’s support them.

Once again I grateful to all sponsors, Goodwill staffs and all my beloved brother and sister (Goodwillers).That’s all of my speech.